The life of the French artist Aristide Najean seems like the plot of a bohemian novel: part of his childhood spent in Algeria, where his father served in the French army, the years of passionate research during which he absorbed cultures and expressive techniques between the Spain of the Matadors, the Greece of classical mythology, and the Italy of the Renaissance. Then, the encounter with Venice and the birth of a great love, the one with Murano, which will give life to absolute masterpieces.

The artist’s luminous glass sculptures can, in fact, be admired in the most iconic luxury places in Venice, such as Palazzina Grassi and the Quadri Restaurant, in private homes and in the most refined hotels in the world such as The Dorchester in London, the Plaza Athénée in Paris and the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo.

I mean to create bright works that spread joy.

(Aristide Najean)

Since his childhood, Najean has been an artist who loves to experiment, often self-taught, with different forms of art that he explores with passionate curiosity: painting first and foremost, engraving, architecture, and fresco. In 1986 he discovered Murano glass, gradually learning all its secrets thanks to the exchange of talents with the Murano master Mario Badioli who taught him the art of glassworking, while Aristide taught him that of painting.

The fruit of this collaboration will be works of art with a very strong expressive charge in which the color and the various techniques learned over the years by Najean find the perfect synthesis to maximize the impact of the forms, often zoomorphic.

He began collaborating with world-famous architects and designers such as Jean-Michel Wilmotte, Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku, Bruno Moinard and Philippe Starck. In particular, his artistic partnership with Starck led him to create important works such as the chandeliers made for Palazzina Grassi, tying him even more to Venice, so much so that in 2015 he decided to take over the historic furnace in Murano that belonged to the great master glassmaker Alfredo Barbini, known as La Cattedrale.

It is here, in this oasis of peace, between the very high walls that give it its nickname, the cobalt blue glass windows and the floor that he painted personally (and that he often uses as a “drawing board” for his sketches) that his works are born today, unique pieces of shapes never explored before by any other artist.

The creative process starts from a compound made of Fontainebleau sand, the purest, soda, lime (each master has his own personal recipe for making glass) which is melted at 1400° to give life to the compact mass of glass which is then modeled and sculpted by hand with the same tools that were used a thousand years ago.

After cooling, to allow the stabilization of the energy tensions of the material to ensure that the glass does not break, we move on to cutting and then to the assembly room where the works are composed.

Najean’s art finds its highest expression in his highly sought-after chandeliers, true glass sculptures composed of hundreds of pieces hand-crafted to the artist’s design, a process that can last up to three months for the most complex creations.

There are many collaborations with fashion and design brands; such as the one with Baccarat, a company that is a symbol of French crystal, which for the first time combined two legendary rival traditions, Murano glass and Bohemian crystal, in a riot of zoomorphic figures on one side and sparkling papilles on the other, and the one with Dior Parfums which invited the artist to create an art object that paid homage to L’Or de Vie.

The artist’s creations can be purchased in Murano at La Cattedrale, where his most recent paintings are also exhibited, open to the public only during special events, such as Glass Week, or by appointment.

La Cattedrale is also available to provide the setting for highly selected private events and dinners.

The Secret

Aristide Najean’s passion began a long time ago: during the Second World War, his mother worked in a glassware company in Lorraine, Vannes-le-Chatel, and the artist was fascinated by her stories about this magical material and the myriad of little animals and glassware that adorned his home. Fate would have it that, during a dinner with friends in Paris, Najean was invited to Murano to discover the secrets of blown glass: it would be the first of a series of long journeys that would lead the artist to become, as his wife Sylvie, who was always by his side, describes him: “a Murano artist in love with glass”.